The New York Times Magazine had a piece today about starter castles in Europe. Due to the current economic conditions, you can pick someone’s left-over castle for a song… This are just cheap little things, beginning at about $1 million!
Killahara Castle, County Tipperary, Ireland
Original asking price: $1.53 million. Current asking price: $1.25 million.
The Irish writer Tom O’Neill and his restoration-specialist friend Noel Ryan bought this 16th-century Irish castle in 2006 and undertook a thorough conservation effort — renovating the building to a comfortable standard while doing the minimum amount of structural change. Including the restoration, O’Neill and Ryan spent more than $1.25 million on the castle; at its current asking price, they would not quite break even.
Medieval chateau, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Original asking price: $4 million. Current asking price: $2.8 million.
The medieval chateau was bought as a second home in 2002 by a financier and his interior-decorator wife. It has seven bedrooms and is an hour and a half from Bordeaux and Toulouse. 
It has been fully renovated and contains old and new touches: exposed-beam ceilings, chunky oak doors, high-end bathrooms with heated towel rails, even secret staircases.
Castle Altdöbern, Brandenburg, Germany
Asking price: Negotiable
Once the home of a Jewish cigarette manufacturer who fled the Nazis, this ornate castle with more than 50 rooms dates to the early 1700s and sits in a wooded area about 80 miles south of Berlin.
After the end of the Second World War, it served as a retirement home and kindergarten before falling into disuse. The efforts of a number of investors to transform the castle into an upscale hotel or a tourist attraction have failed over several decades. 
The building is now owned by a castles’ association, which is extensively renovating the interior with the hope of readying it for a potential occupant.
To see several of the other ‘starter castles’, please click here.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Homes and Gardens,
I'll Take This
After the end of the Second World War, it served as a retirement home and kindergarten before falling into disuse. The efforts of a number of investors to transform the castle into an upscale hotel or a tourist attraction have failed over several decades. 
